Photographer
Jacqueline Woods poses next to her recent exhibit entitled
“Nine Standing Women,” developed from a photographic process that dates
back to 1839.

WĀV Artist Interviews: Jacqueline Woods

By Tim
Pompey

Jacqueline Woods describes herself as a “conceptual artist still
practicing in the traditional photographic processes.” In lay terms,
she lives, works, and creates photographs the old-fashioned way: in a
dark room with paper, water, and the alchemy of light. By using what’s
termed a “paper negative,” she traces her technique back to the infancy
of photography, before film was even invented.

Her fascination with the camera, which began in a high school photo
class, has blossomed into a thirty-year passion. Since
graduating with
a B.S. in Applied Art and Design from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1988,
she has worked as a photographer, a custom picture framer, and an
archivist for photo collections. Her work is held in museums,
corporate, and private collections.

Woods considers traditional photography to be a “supernatural” medium—a
complex combination of magic and chemistry. “I have a deep respect for
the genius of photography and its power of representation,” she says.
“My work explores memory and identity, both personal and collective.”
The experience of making hand-made prints is quite meditative. As she
describes it: “When I’m in the dark room, I’m transported to another
realm.”

Her
current exhibit, “Standing Women,” transforms found photographs of
anonymous women using paper negatives. After five years on this
project, Woods has a personal connection to each woman. “I want to keep
them all safe,” she says, “and preserve them because this is proof that
each of the women, now dead, once existed.”

Illustrating these women is Woods’ way of capturing and holding onto
their past, recognizing their contribution, perhaps even documenting
her own. “For one instant, when the shutter opens” she says, “they’re
floating forever in this emulsion.”